Family Planning Clinics Closed

I really don’t understand it. This state and its governor already fail the poor and the children in so many ways, and by closing the doors to family planning clinics, the betrayal continues. For some time, the less fortunate have had no recourse to basic health nor mental health care, thanks to budget cuts. Prenatal care is unavailable to a large percentage of poor pregnant women and these women may be turned away from UC Irvine Medical Center when it comes time to give birth because of lack of space, personnel and funds.

There are already so many throw-away children, born to parents who didn’t want them or who couldn’t cope because of personal problems, drug abuse or poverty.

Even if we can ignore the psychological, social and moral costs, surely the pure economics of the situation mandate availability of family planning clinics. What will it cost the state to care for the woman with invasive cervical cancer which could have been caught and treated after a routine Pap smear? How much does rampant venereal disease cost? What about AIDS? A family planning clinic educates its patients on AIDS and distributes condoms. Finally, what is the cost of caring for the innocent children who will become a burden on the state when they are born to mothers who had no recourse to birth control?

KAREN M. ALLEN

Brea